Aaron Boone will continue to be in a Yankees uniform not only for the 2022 MLB season, but beyond as well.
The team announced on Tuesday that Boone signed a three-year extension to remain with the club through 2024 with an option for 2025. That extension put to bed rumblings that the Yankees and Boone — whose contract was set to expire about the 2021 World Series — could part ways.
Boone has managed the Yankees since 2018. He has guided the team to a 328-218 record and four playoff appearances during his four seasons in charge. The Yankees and GM Brian Cashman wanted to provide Boone with a vote of confidence in his managerial abilities after the team failed to live up to expectations in 2021.
"I thought Aaron Boone was part of the solution," Cashman said to reporters at a press conference. "He wasn't a part of the problem — or the problem."
RIVERA: Five biggest questions Yankees must answer after playoff elimination
Because of that viewpoint, the Yankees worked hard to lock Boone into a deal and ensure that they wouldn't lose him.
"To be quite honest, if he was entering the free-agent market, I believe he'd be the No. 1 managerial candidate in baseball," Cashman said. "There's a number of different vacancies, and we would be going to market looking for someone like him."
MORE: Why isn't Ronald Acuña playing for the Braves this postseason?
The Padres were reportedly interested in Boone as a potential replacement for the departed Jayce Tingler, so it's possible that Boone would have been the hot name of the market. After all, he has won slightly more than 60 percent of the MLB games that he has managed.
The only problem with Boone's record is his lacking postseason success. His teams have never made it to the World Series despite four playoff appearances and have only made the ALCS once. They have an 11-11 postseason record under Boone and the team has won just one non-Wild Card series under his watch.
Those issues weren't enough for Cashman to turn away from Boone, even despite the Yankees' illustrious championship history.
"He's had a lot of success here despite our postseason results," Cashman said. "Our big goal happens to be a world championship but that doesn't mean there's a lot of goals that aren't getting accomplished or things to be proud of along the way."
MORE: How the Red Sox's laundry cart HR celebration began
So, if Cashman and the Yankees were so confident in Boone, why did they wait so long to extend him? Well, they wanted to wait until after the season ended to start negotiations and needed to work through that process in a calculated manner.
But the team's goal became clear very quickly once that time came.
"When we actually got together after a little bit of time and delay, we had a conference call discussing all things," Cashman said. "All parties were 110 percent onboard in alignment on [bringing Boone back]."
